Portraiture exhibit that omits the subject

A celebrity portraiture series by American photographer Robert Weingarten is on display at Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian museum. Weingarten's work is unusual in that his photographs do not include his famous subjects. Instead, he photographs individual objects and scenes that have informed the lives and achievements of his accomplished subjects and uses them to create a composite image in Photoshop, seeking a metaphorical, rather than representational portrait.

Weingarten has coined the phrase, 'the translucent composite' to describe his end result. To date, his subjects have included the likes of baseball icon Hank Aaron, actor/director Dennis Hopper, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. In the video below he explains that he begins by asking his subjects for an actual list of places and objects that have shaped and influenced their lives. He then goes about the task of photographing their choices - traveling to London and Rome to fulfill artist Chuck Close's list, for example.

A first reaction to Weingarten's approach may be that he inserts too much of himself into someone's portrait. Yet it can certainly be argued that photographic portraiture has always represented the voice of the photographer at least as much as that of the subject itself. And by allowing his subjects to provide the list of source material, perhaps this approach actually tips the balance more in favor of the subject.

Does Weingarten succeed in his aim of, as he puts it, 'creating a new language of portrait'? Can a viewer glean more insight from a metaphorical examination of a subject's life? Or is this approach best left to the medium of biography? Let us know what you think after watching the video below.

"The translucent composite" is a fancier name for a double exposure. I think Weingarten's double (or triple etc) exposures are colorful and pretty in an abstract way. However, I'm calling "The King has no clothes" on this series. To get press and make sales at galleries some photographers are playing the gimmick card. When photographs of Avedon's caliber are shown, gimmicks are not necessary. Personally I like craft. I like real. Photographers after a certain period of time can fall victim to delusions of grandeur. And unlike many critics, I'm not afraid to back up my position by showing my own work http://www.danwagnerphotography.com Cheers.

I like the idea of using places important to a subject to represent them but agree that "art" often is bs to hide a lack of ideas or craft. Your portfolio shows excellent examples of high quality photography without gimmicks. Thanks for adding the link.

It's not being "old school", just being plainly logical: when someone speaks, it's to be listen at. Crystal clear obviousness !I know "art field" has been desesperately trying to break free from logic for a long time, but every attempt is not necessarily successful...

+1. It's essentially a layout work to my view too and as an illustration it's ok, otherwise I must say I do not like too much the fact some "artist" create their "art" by using others masterpieces. There are some outstanding exceptions - Dali for instance, if we talk about paintings - but I find it way too easy to produce beauty by using already beautiful works.

I repeatedly notice that an artist with high proficiency in texting and in verbal expression is often more successful in getting his work "appreciated" than the quite artist of much better quality but lower capacity for verbal delivery. Specifically, this work constitutes a technological noise of no apparent artistic or human value beyond what we have already seen in excellent portraits by others. There is nothing in these photoshop posters to represent to the viewer the true character of the subject.

You're right. I'd add, after seeing Mr. Weingarten's photos at his website, that their content is rather too obvious. If the artist meant to subtly depict the subject by including references to his (hers) life and achievements, those references are too "graphic". It is a contradiction that he wants to challenge the viewers' imagination by not including the subjects' actual portrait, and then give some rather too explicit guidelines.Plus I think this drifts way off photography. It has aesthetic content, but ultimately it's rather pointless. Better look at Mr. Weingarten's work as an exploration of Photoshop's possibilities.

This website is about pixel beeping and endless discussions about focusing errors, light leaks and the perfect skin tone. Not to forget the 2 most important questions : "what is the perfect walk about lens ?" and "is my lens sharp ?"

Portrait with no subject. Just looked up the formal definition of a portrait, and of the two listed at the top this is the loosest interpretation of the 2nd, said to be a representation of someone... It is border line not a portrait...

That being said the artist himself categorized his work best.. This is not a portrait but a digital collage (composite) as he puts it. A portrait is just that a single photograph of a subject, whether you choose to silhouette or light your subject is up to you. But when you mash up 10 photographs plus text it is called graphic design not photography. Photography in this case is a tool in his graphics.

Finally this is art contrary to popular opinion below and it is good, just don't call it what it is not really... a portrait.

Art is in the eye of beholder. My thought is that this form of art is crap, based on my personal aesthetics. However, this doesn't close my mind to accept that others see this as art. To those who believe that this is art, what category would you put it in?

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I believe that a photograph should be able to stand on it's own and involve the composition of a single moment/setting. In fact, I find that the most powerful photographs fall into this category.

A mashup, in my mind, no matter the vision behind it, does not make it photographic art nor does it advance the art of photography. The artificiality overwhelms the image and causes me to believe that this belongs in a different category than photographic art.

Maybe none of the posters have achieved the level of success of Weingarten

Jealousy expressed in a catty way... jeeze....

Perhaps this is art, a step beyond removing pimples from subjects portraits.

Seems to me, what's new here is that he has engaged his subject in a unique way. Celebrities have their likeness's in many places, Weingarten engages them differently and has them give him the benchmarks of their life

Whether others viewers like or dislike the image, makes no difference (including us as internet experts)

Apparently, the curator at the Smithsonian liked them, but what does he know about photography.

another one who mixes success with quality? van gogh sold 1 painting during his life which means he was completely unsuccessful. what his art means today we all know, do we? thomas kinkade was one of the most popular, successful painters in the USA at the time of his death yet you won't find any serious art critics who believes his art is artistically relevant not today nor in the future.

so, one can talk about jealousy and what not or one can talk about facts. art is everything just not everything is good art. so, back to the facts. you are talking about engaging subjects in a unique way. ya, he surely put a lot of effort to realize his idea but that doesn't mean his idea was unique, new or artistically relevant. it's not about liking or disliking the image but about knowing the history of art and photography in order to be able to determine whether an idea is original or artistically relevant. and by no standards his is. that has nothing to do with people liking it or not.

I produced the video posted here a couple of years ago when Robert Weingarten's work was exhibited in Atlanta at the High Museum. For the Smithsonian exhibition we cut two two pieces from the same footage but with a slightly different focus. I posted them for those interested. Here are the links:1) https://vimeo.com/channels/363858/45875240 (Pushing Boundaries)2) https://vimeo.com/channels/363858/45874884 (Hank Aaron Portrait)NealOne Production Place

I agree - the concept isn't that original, but he has certainly taken it to the next level, actually meeting and interviewing the people, shooting the actual objects (such as the baseball) and traveling for the right pictorial elements (fresco for example).

It's almost like having an idea years and years ago and finally having the time and budget to realize it to it's best potential - well worth doing I say.

Me - I personally don't like text in artworks - I think it detracts visually and cheapens the work - works of art should be successful enough in conveying a message without resorting to explanation within the work it's self. - having said that I do like text graphically speaking, but your eye jumps to it naturally, meaning you end up trying to read the text rather than explore the image.

And is it just me or does his camera bag seem excessive for the task...

this is so early 2000. it always amuses me how some people think they discovered america just because they haven't heard it was already discovered. I was making such images more than 10 years ago. it's surely fun and visually appealing but artistically boring.

Robert Weingarten - a true artist. Photography is a pure art form in his hands. Perhaps there is more to photography than "the rule of thirds", "f/stops", "pin sharp", etc. ~173 years ago, with the first photographs, photography has been questioned by "true artists" as whether it can be considered an art form. Certainly there has been some slow movement in the acceptance by some in the art community. However, Weingarten and others, hopefully, will put an end to questioning artists using cameras for their creativity. He, and others, are true artists.

what this guy is technically doing (composite prints) was done already by photographers soon after photography was invented. in those times photographers as you said were not considered artists that's why what they tried to do was to bring photography as close to painting as they could. which was of course a wrong idea. photography was established as an artistic medium only when it stopped to try to compete with painting. what this guy is doing is just playing with photoshop. I did the same stuff 10 or 12 years ago and I got bored of it. these images are surely visually appealing and fun but artistically they are without any serious value because they bring nothing art hasn't seen in abundance before. this kind of stuff is the first thing one tries to have fun with once he discovers layers and opacity effects in photoshop.

I agree with others that posted here. Is it artistic and creative? Yes. Is it photographic skill? Framing and Composition, Yes. Are any of the elements themselves something an artistic photographer would shoot the way he does? Maybe. Does he rely heavily on post-editing? Absolutely. I think all of us who enjoy the photo medium can challenge ourselves to think outside the box. When I find people who see the world differently, it doesn't mean I'll see it exactly the same way. For example, I was enthralled by young Evan of photoextremist.com. I liked his multiplicity idea but adapted it in a totally different way.

This isn't a new idea by any means, grade school kids do these types of projects all the time minus the technology. I really like his approach though. I think his observations about reductive and inductive processes are important and I like that he is trying to push the limits of what a portrait is or should be. Some of the works in the video seemed a bit one-dimensional. The Hank Aaron portrait really only showed images pertaining to Hank the baseball player, the same with the Buzz Aldrin one, and ultimately that is a bit boring to me. I learned nothing new about Hank Aaron from this portrait and it seemed like nothing more than a series of baseball related images put into a collage. I really would like to see his other work and see it in person, it's so hard to appreciate in a video.

He does wonderful work at the "inductive" process of taking a blank computer screen and then magically adding to it. To me, his work is not so much photography but the creative manipulation of images after the fact. His creativity doesn't rest so much in the photographic process but more in the processing of images to tell a story.

If you are interested in this type of layered composition and "story-telling" be sure to have a look at artists like James Rosenquist and Robert Rauschenberg, who created painted works with a related approach, with great insight and subtlety.

Do you know what kind of reading I should be doing if I want to get ideas from artists? I am an amateur photographer who is also taking drawing and painting classes. I am trying to learn about art, and I am also taking classes from a local photographer, Chris Pollack.

I saw Weingarten portrait work when it came through the High Art Museum in Atlanta. It reminded me a lot of mixed-media artwork and I think it makes the most sense in that context instead of the photography context. Photography is a tool being used to combine items that cannot be combined physically as in traditional mixed media.

I do feel like it fails in being a "metaphorical" representation of a person as the content is very literal (the baseball, the jersey, etc). Perhaps this is an inevitable result from the goal of being able to recognize who the person is rather than just convey an impression of the personality.

Interesting idea, but ultimately it seems a bit coy to me. Does the viewer feel stupid if they can't figure out who it is or clever if the can? Does that matter? Also, these photo collages remind me of LeRoy Neiman sports paintings. Big photos I like however. I wish I had his giant printer and could afford to feed it.

Few ideas are truly original including this concept. One of Elliott Erwitt's most famous portraits is of Pablo Casals without Casals. It showed only his cello. That should not discourage artists like Weingarten, however, who adds composites into the mix. I do see it veering way into the realm of graphic design and away from portraiture.

These oversized images are typical of the big for bigness-sake movement we've endured many years now. Big is not always better. Nor does the heaping on of layers necessarily deepen meaning. Indeed,the obvious hints and/or clues (Aaron's number; Close portrait; etc.) render these works hackneyed.

I agree. This photographer is acting as if his works have such deep meaning and he's come up with such unusual skills. These are basically digital triple or quadruple exposures using layers. And he's basically an illustrator using photography instead of Adobe Illustrator. I find it very messy looking and not meaningful. I cannot believe all the acclaim he is getting. I think the analogy to Leroy Neiman was a good one.

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